The "Rat Shot" shells that are available for pest control, scatter so bad through a rifled barrel, that your effective pattern isn't much further than 10 or 12 ft.
I was wondering if a smooth bore .22 rifle would tend to hold a good pattern any further. Have any of you guys had any experience with one?
Thinking about a Tin roof about 25 ft high and sparrows that crap all over my building.

The "Rat Shot" shells that are available for pest control, scatter so bad through a rifled barrel, that your effective pattern isn't much further than 10 or 12 ft.
I was wondering if a smooth bore .22 rifle would tend to hold a good pattern any further. Have any of you guys had any experience with one?
Thinking about a Tin roof about 25 ft high and sparrows that crap all over my building.

Yes a smooth bore is the way to go, I've been looking for one myself.
If I don't find one I have an old rifle I may make one out of it.
Best Regards
Bob Hunter

Use a .22lr rifle of your choice and a .22short round like the CCI CB. At 25 ft it's lethal to a bird and if you miss the bullet loses energy quickly and after 100 yards only has about 24 ft/lb of energy. If someone got hit by it it'd be less injurious than some sling shot hits at 100 yards. Further than 100 yards and well... I'm sure you get the idea.

Just be careful and aim well - even a .22 short can damage a tin roof if you hit it within 25 yards... albeit probably just dent it and not shoot through it. Oh speaking of range... ummm 35 yards will probably be as far as you want to be from your target.

Just a thought too, I remember my son shooting starlings and house sparrows in field with a pellet rifle, you know the run of the mill Daisy type with multiple pumps and max mv of around 500fps. At 10 yards the shots were through and through and the birds dropped dead where they were hit.

They used to make 22 smoothbore rifles, Remington, Winchester, Mossberg, Marlin, pretty much all of the major makers used to make smoothbore 22s for Boy Scouts' Skeeto and for garden guns. A smoothbore 22 with shotshells will down a pigeon out to 50'-60', I have seen one at work in a slaughterhouse. You can occasionally find them on the gun auction sites.

We used to shoot "Mo-Skeet-O" using small clay birds and smoothbore .22's with shotshells. It was a common boy scout camp sport in the 1970's. Must be a bunch of those... "muskets" around. They were bolt action single shots, memory says Remington.

Good point scorch. MANY years ago I qualified for Rifle and Shotgun merit badge on 'sketos and a smooth bore rifle; breaking them at about 40 feet with no problem. But put the shot shell in a rifled barrel and they wouldn't break a 'sketo sitting on a post at 25 feet. - Good memories.

Personally, I would not fire any .22 non-shot (i.e. bullet) at a roof. It is a puncture waiting to happen. And that's irrespective of the safety concerns of firing a bullet skyward.

They were called garden guns. Several "store" brands. Many were made by Savage, or the associated Canadian company. They work surprisingly well, considering that 12 shot looses energy so quickly. Some are even choked.
Mine is stamped for shot cartridges, and s,l,lr.

About 50 years ago, I remember shooting skeet at good ole "Camp Tom Hale" when I was in the scouts with a smooth bore .22. I was hesitant to mention it, because I thought it was probably a drilled out .22 rifle, and did not want to give anyone any bright ideas. I'm glad to know that they make such an animal, and will probably try to find one to purchase. I think it would be just right for my problem.

I wonder how many 1000's of scouts earned rifle and shotgun merit badges with these things... the six that were in the scout range armory must have each had a million rounds put thru them.

Hate to say it... (it's shameful actually), but typical Boy Scout sport was to wait for dusk and to shoot at bats with them.
If I ever caught anyone shooting at bats now... well.... The good news... I don't think we EVER hit one. The darned bats could "fly to maneuver" away from the shot string. Talk about sensitive animals.

With all the after-market stuff out there for the Ruger 10/22, I wondered if there might be a smooth bore barrel out there for it. A quick Internet search returned all sorts of interesting barrels and services. Just FYI.
Andrew

__________________NRA Life MemberThere are some ideas so preposterous that only an intellectual will believe them. - Malcolm Muggeridge

The week I there, I was the only one that was able to qualify with a "shotgun". Four of five others gave up earlier in the week and ended up qualifying by "rifle"; shooting rifled barrels (at I think it was 50').

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